1) A Family Runs Through It – Family Phil is a Stay at Home Dad and home schooler out of Idaho.

2) Pro Blogger – I try to brush up on my blogging knowledge and just keep abreast what’s happening in the world of blogging. Darren stays on top of these issues for us so people like me don’t have to.

3) Black Bear Blog – My father writes a blog and updates it throughout the day with hunting, fishing, and outdoor news from across the continent. He also focuses on how politics effect the sport, such as 2nd amendment rights, land access rights, and so forth.

4) The News Hound – J.R. Absher has a new blog at Outdoor Life. He used to blog for ESPN Outdoors and has signed a new contract. So even though the blog is only a couple months old J.R. has been blogging for a while now.

5) Marriage Actually – This is a new one for me and a new blog for the web. I have found myself checking in to this blog each day looking for new material. The authors of the blog are a married couple and write about marriage. It is highly entertaining!

Post from: Blisstree

Blogs I Read Every Day

Read the following. They are Ben Stein’s 10 Commandments of Fatherhood:

1. Time is of the essence. Spend large amounts of time with your child. Kids don’t want “quality time”… They want you to be there all the time.

2. Share your strength with your child. Be an ally, not an adversary. Share with him stories of your own fears, failings, and anxieties and how you overcame them.

3. Do not expect your child to make up for your own losses when you were a child. Let your kids pursue their own hopes and dreams.

4. Look for the good in your child and praise it. Children are nurtured by praise as plants are nurtured by water. Deny it to them at their peril and yours. Children who are told that they can succeed in fact usually do succeed.

5. Do not allow your children to be rude. Being polite is a basic foundation of human interaction, and kids will not succeed in life if they’re surly and disrespectful.

6. Patience is indispensable. Children’s behavioral flaws cannot be corrected by flipping a switch. It takes a long time and a lot of patience to teach positive behaviors. If you are an impatient, demanding, short-fused dad, you will get that irritable, demanding kind of kid.

7. Teach your child and let him teach you. Children will tell you what they want and need. Dads get into trouble when they do not listen to their kids and dismiss their feelings as not important. Also, your child should get the benefit of your wisdom and experience about life, so tell him what you know about the world around you. Learn from your children and let them learn from you.

8. Value your child for what he is, not for what you think he should be. I want my son to know that whatever he becomes in the future, he is prized just for being my son, right now.

9. Raising a child is a job for Mom and Dad. Children with absent fathers are wounded for the balance of their lives. Dad should and must be in there pitching along with Mom, helping out as an equal partner in the tough job of raising children. The true heroes of our generation are at home with their kids.

10. Being a Daddy is priority number one. When you decide that your kids come before your sales quota or your poker-playing schedule or your overtime to make partner, then you will find that all of the other pieces of Daddyhood fall into place – teaching and learning, patience, looking for the good and praising it. When you put your kids first, you are far less alone in this world. What’s more vital, so are they.

Post from: Blisstree

10 Commandments of Fatherhood

So, I think with a proper education kids are more likely to not only become better prepared for the workplace, they will be better prepared for life. We all know that there are problems in the education system today and as a result we are running into problems that probably could have been avoided with strong and concrete education.

Because I feel so strongly about education I have really considered home schooling my own kids. But, the school system where I live is one of the best in all of the United States and so I have put trust in the system here. But I know not all families are as fortunate. In this case, I strongly recommend home schooling your kids.

I think there are a lot of false perceptions of what home schooling does to kids. I am not sure where they originate. For instance the conclusion that home schooling leads to children with poor people skills and that they don’t get enough socialization. I am sure that there are cases where home schooled kids can become isolated from other kids. But, I think that has to do more with how they are being taught than simply staying home to be schooled.

I know children who were home schooled and they got more play time with other children and a better education. They played sports down at the school and were decent athletes. They grew up to be very well spoken, thought provoking individuals and are not just another part of the mold here in America.

Speaking of home schooling kids, Family Phil just got nominated for the Homeschool Blog Awards for 2006. Phil is a stay at home father who home schools. He also has spent time teaching down at the local school and has even been a coach. He spends a lot of time in the education system and works hard to do what is best for his kids. So go vote for him.

Post from: Blisstree

Think About Homeschooling, Pushing Education to the Next Level

hat tip: Family Phil

Post from: Blisstree

Dan Zanes Joins The Wiggles

First and foremost, having this position feels sometimes like listening to that Oasis song, Wonderwall over and over and over and over and over again, all day long for days on end. Listening to it once isn’t so bad but once the song ends you are happy it has ended.

I love my kids and I actually wouldn’t trade what I am doing now for anything in the world but let me tell ya… getting out on that one hour walk at the end of the day is a much needed event waiting to happen. Just as Family Phil mentioned just recently, there are things I do envy about working dads. He noted the lack of adult interaction. I do agree and that comes in at a close 2nd, but what drives me nuts and is on the top of my list is that there is simply no change. There is no break from it. You can do all you can to change the environment like bringing the kids to the park, taking them sledding, etc… but the underlying fact of it all is no matter where you are you still are stuck with the basic fundamentals of parenting and being the good dad that you are which is extremely exhausting.

The working father can have a bad day at the office and come home to not only a new scene, but an entirely different fundamental formula. Let’s put it this way… the working father is like having to listen to several bad songs over and over again. At least they know when the song is over they don’t have to hear that same song again for awhile.

As a Stay at Home Dad that song never changes and plays over and over again in your head. When “normal” dads are driving home from work, I remain in my current SAHD state of mind and continue until my head hits the pillow, and sometimes it doesn’t even go away then. And when the rare occasion comes and a mediocre song plays it is like the sweetest melody you have ever heard.

But don’t take it the wrong way. I love what I do, it is just a very challenging thing to do… and requires some inward strength to use coping mechanisms that will allow you to keep and control your own sanity.

This is day 1 of vacation week for my kids. Wish me the best.

Post from: Blisstree

Playing to the Same Beat

Phil has been homeschooling now for a while and he even took his kids to Iraq to distribute ten tons of crayons, markers, and other art supplies to the children over there. (Edited: This was an April Fool’s joke that I fell for in January. I guess he did not go to Iraq!)

Some of the other things he has done:

- Phil is a soccer coach for his son’s soccer team.
- Phil homeschools his son and tells us why.
- Phil took is family on a trip to Mt. St. Helens and Kalaloch Beach.
- Phil was attacked by wolves and stuck on a ferris wheel and has pictures to prove it.
- Phil moved 10,000 pounds of granite into his yard. Nuts!
- Phil taught his son to fish.
- Phil volunteers his time down at the school.
- Phil took the family Snow Tubing for the first time.

This was all in 2006. So I would like to award Family Phil with the Dads on Duty award. Phil you can take your badge home.

Post from: Blisstree

Dads on Duty – An Exceptional Dad Award